Gran Premio de España Santander 2012

[Omegablue]

Be part of the ridiculous we are lotus, lotus lotus,chapman supported lotus, lotus/tata/lada/proton/renault, Real lotus, real lotus which isn't lotus as lotus doesnt sponsor lotus but they have the lotus name so they dont lose money at the end of the year-lotus, soon to be Lotus Genii capital banking group F1.

So true!!!

[Ali]

Lotus always does weird things.
In Barcelona, they gave priority to the driver behind (Grosjean) in the two first pit stops and, afterwards, they told Kimi about Alonso and Maldonado needing to pit again when everybody knew that was not true

In fairness, I think that radio message was delayed as we heard it just after those two pitted. I may be wrong, but I took it at that.

Lotus' problem is, I reckon, getting performance from tyres when car is heavy.

[reppo]

Its not whether they win or not, He is a t*** regardless.

Said it when he took over renault. Said it when he slated Briatore, Pat and Alonso. We all know kimi has that magic Finnish throttle touch that made Mercedes engines implode at the touch of the throttle and certain tyres to magically explode specifically through kimi's, but Heidfeld takes it further when he obi-wan kenobi'd the car to explode, as claimed by the t***. Said it when he was so cold about Kubica coming back and not helping unless he commits long term. Ill say it when he does nothing, Ill say it if the team wins, Ill say it if the team gets a 1-2, Ill say it if the team gets a pole position.

Said it when he bemoans everything like mugello, declares it a waste of time and money because they wont learn anything. Then goes. Said it when he moans about the young drivers test being at Silverstone and not Abu Dhabi moaning about cost and staffing, yet he's doing it as its cheaper in silverstone. Then moans about teams using it to test a few parts here and there, not like he wouldnt do anyway. He is a walking contradiction.

It doesnt change anything, he is an utter smug t*** who hasn't done much except be part of the ridiculous we are lotus, lotus lotus,chapman supported lotus, lotus/tata/lada/proton/renault, Real lotus, real lotus which isn't lotus as lotus doesnt sponsor lotus but they have the lotus name so they dont lose money at the end of the year-lotus, soon to be Lotus Genii capital banking group F1.

Joking aside, the man is an incompetant, imbecillic, arrogant and smug t***.

So, let me get this straight. If I understand you correctly, Boullier is a t***

I'm not too sure what is his role in the team since Lopez makes the decisions and Permane manages race operations. Maybe he does PR of such.

[Mar]

Lotus always does weird things.
In Barcelona, they gave priority to the driver behind (Grosjean) in the two first pit stops and, afterwards, they told Kimi about Alonso and Maldonado needing to pit again when everybody knew that was not true

In fairness, I think that radio message was delayed as we heard it just after those two pitted. I may be wrong, but I took it at that.

Lotus' problem is, I reckon, getting performance from tyres when car is heavy.

Hmm, I've been told Kimi asked afterwards where was that other stop of Maldonado and Alonso and was told it wouldn't happen. I have not heard the radio conversation myself, so I'm also not really sure.

I have the feeling Lotus has a car they can play around with the set-up in order to make it better for qualy or for the race, with Räikkönen always going to a set-up more into the "heavy car" direction and Grosjean more into a "qualifying car" direction. Räikkönen's pace with the heavy car in China and Bahrain (regardless of the new tyres) was pretty impressive. Even in Barcelona, Räikkönen's first stint was very good -he lost very little time with Maldonado and Alonso- and clearly better than Grosjean's (even if the team says the opposite I have re-watched the first part of the race and Grosjean can't follow Rosberg's pace during the first laps). I have also noticed Räikkönen quite often needs to do two warm-up laps in qualifying with the hard tyres, while Grosjean only needs one, and Kimi also has had problems to warm up the tyres in the first lap on the last stint of a few races (Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain).

Anyway, even after 5 races, it's still too early to tell, it could also still be a coincidence and you're right and the Lotus are better taking the best out of the tyres when they're light

[mikhailv]

Its not whether they win or not, He is a t*** regardless.

Said it when he took over renault. Said it when he slated Briatore, Pat and Alonso. We all know kimi has that magic Finnish throttle touch that made Mercedes engines implode at the touch of the throttle and certain tyres to magically explode specifically through kimi's, but Heidfeld takes it further when he obi-wan kenobi'd the car to explode, as claimed by the t***. Said it when he was so cold about Kubica coming back and not helping unless he commits long term. Ill say it when he does nothing, Ill say it if the team wins, Ill say it if the team gets a 1-2, Ill say it if the team gets a pole position.

Said it when he bemoans everything like mugello, declares it a waste of time and money because they wont learn anything. Then goes. Said it when he moans about the young drivers test being at Silverstone and not Abu Dhabi moaning about cost and staffing, yet he's doing it as its cheaper in silverstone. Then moans about teams using it to test a few parts here and there, not like he wouldnt do anyway. He is a walking contradiction.

It doesnt change anything, he is an utter smug t*** who hasn't done much except be part of the ridiculous we are lotus, lotus lotus,chapman supported lotus, lotus/tata/lada/proton/renault, Real lotus, real lotus which isn't lotus as lotus doesnt sponsor lotus but they have the lotus name so they dont lose money at the end of the year-lotus, soon to be Lotus Genii capital banking group F1.

Joking aside, the man is an incompetant, imbecillic, arrogant and smug t***.

So, let me get this straight. If I understand you correctly, Boullier is a t***

I'm not too sure what is his role in the team since Lopez makes the decisions and Permane manages race operations. Maybe he does PR of such.

Basically!

seriously hedoes nothing but claim to be a big man and bemoan everything when hes just a smug , arrogant t***.

[reppo]

Mika Salo's thoughts after Barcelona
http://blogit.mtv3.fi/f1salonsilmin/201 ... -voittaja/ (in Finnish)

Kimi will be sixth winner
Published on 05/16/2012
Maldonado's victory in Spain was a total surprise. I really did not expect this from him, but the man drove really well all weekend and was fast in every session. Last year's mess up was forgotten all at once. Maybe the car now suits better for him. Williams has done a wonderful development. Even from Valtteri's driving on Friday, one could see that the car will go fast. However, Senna could not get the car to work in the same way, and was really like an one comer.

I was expecting that Kimi would have won in Barcelona - the big surprise was the fact that Kimi did not win. Lotus tactics just have not went right. Maldonado hit the timing just perfectly, when went to the pit. He pulled a terrible lead to Kimi and passed Alonso in one pit stop. Lotus has a good car, but it shows a little, that not all bits are completely under control, but are messed up. Kimi can patch up in the race because he is really fast, but then the team screws up timing.

I think that Kimi will be really strong in the next race in Monaco. When Kimi becomes the sixth different winner in six races, then the season starts to look pretty interesting.

In Barcelona we saw also a lot of disappointments. Red Bull and McLaren were slow. They have work to do, but after all they have geniuses at work. I think they shall be better, but remains to be seen how quickly it happens. McLaren has before brought a car from loss to the top during the season. To Red Bull the situation is quite new, but I think Adrian Newey is able to still improve the car very much.

Schumi was pretty sad. With that experience one should know not to drive to back of another car when braking. Senna did couple of silly moves too, so they were both to blame, but Michael's should anyway realize not to run other's rear. Massa's driving was also lousy. Car does not fit him at all and he can not change his driving style at all. Massa has never been slow, but this car requires somewhat different driving style, so he is not able to adapt to it. Alonso instead drives really well.

I do not know what the Ferrari is planning to do in this case. It is also a risk, if a driver is changed at the middle of the season. There's hardly any free good drivers. Sutil is free and Perez could probably be bought out from Sauber, but Perez is still too inexperienced to be behind the wheel of the Ferrari, because Ferrari hires more experienced drivers. Anyhow Massa has so strong bonds to Ferrari, because his manager is Nicolas Todt. What kind of policy issue it is to get rid of him? Surely Massa himself should realize that something has to happen quickly. I certainly would not dare to drive so many races in a row for about 15th place, while team mate is on the podium all the time. One bad race every now and then can be understood, but not that he has continuously a bad weekend.

What? I think the season is already very interesting, and what has Nicolas Todt got to do with Ferrari's decisions about drivers - nothing. I do agree that Massa can't adapt to the car like Alonso can. With normal driving Massa should be a regular top tenner but now he just can't do it. Hard to say how good or bad the car is, because when you give Alonso a box with four black round things and he gets the best out of it. Could also be a warning to not replace Massa too hastily. Lousy Massa replaced with <lousy who ever in that car; fill your candinate here> wouldn't do any good for Ferrari.

[François]

Even in Barcelona, Räikkönen's first stint was very good -he lost very little time with Maldonado and Alonso- and clearly better than Grosjean's (even if the team says the opposite I have re-watched the first part of the race and Grosjean can't follow Rosberg's pace during the first laps).

Bear in mind that Grosjean damaged his front wing in the first corner, which would have done little to help his race pace in the early laps . Not necessarily disagreeing with your post's points, though!

[phil1993]

I think Mr. Schumacher was fortunate just to receive a reprimand for this
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqx67b ... -s-weekend

[iceman1]

The full race from the pitlane channel

[François]

I think Mr. Schumacher was fortunate just to receive a reprimand for this
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqx67b ... -s-weekend

Uh-oh. The mask of calmness is falling apart, and someone's gonna need to look into anger management pretty soon.

[cformula1]

I think Mr. Schumacher was fortunate just to receive a reprimand for this
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqx67b ... -s-weekend

Uh-oh. The mask of calmness is falling apart, and someone's gonna need to look into anger management pretty soon.

Somewhat understandable that he's frustrated, up to Spain he had been very unlucky, especially having been robbed of a podium in China by his pit crew. Wouldn't surprise me if he decides to retire again at the end of the year- and Spain proved to me that he's becoming impatient and frustrated at the moment.

[joebravo]

I think Mr. Schumacher was fortunate just to receive a reprimand for this
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqx67b ... -s-weekend

Uh-oh. The mask of calmness is falling apart, and someone's gonna need to look into anger management pretty soon.

Somewhat understandable that he's frustrated, up to Spain he had been very unlucky, especially having been robbed of a podium in China by his pit crew. Wouldn't surprise me if he decides to retire again at the end of the year- and Spain proved to me that he's becoming impatient and frustrated at the moment.

Pretty much i had in mind..I hope he eventually got 1 podium atleast b4 his retirement(if the rumor end year retirement comfirmed) ..
His era pretty much over

[donald29]

Wow that's a frustrated driver. Like you say up to Spain he'd be incredibly unlucky. Finally both he and the car are capable of reaching the podium and he can't get a break.

Certainly lucky not to get more than a reprimand.

Like I say, there's a Hamilton / Schumacher thing going on. Schumacher said that in pre-season testing 2010 Lewis came up behind him and was really aggressive, like he was trying to prove a point and assert himself. But it was silly because they were on different types of runs at that time and Schumacher was much slower. Then there was Monza last year, this was in an interview with F1 Racing and Schumacher said he showed Hamilton 'it's not always that easy.' And we heard Hamilton's 'what a dirty driver' comment at Monaco last year when Schumacher had done nothing wrong defending. One of my highlights of last season was seeing Schumacher mug Hamilton at the hairpin on lap 1. Almost made up for the dreadful start.

In China there was an interview of all the World Champions and they're all sitting on these adjustable chairs. Schumacher is next to Hamilton and there's a .gif of him pulling the lever on Hamilton's chair and lowering it.

This talk of him being under pressure though is a bit odd given Spain was the first weekend where you can really say he was at fault.

[phil1993]

My problem with Schumacher is it's like he's there for fun. Whereas the other drivers it's their actual proper career. I don't know how Michael would feel if his 27 year old self was being hounded by some past-it 43 year old.

I always remember the cover of Autosport c2004/2005. It had a quote from Schumacher saying something like 'I'll retire when it's right, I don't want to be like Mansell'

[donald29]

He can fit in the car, he's not like Mansell.

I think the frustration we're seeing, he wants to do well. It's not just for fun, although he is / was happy to be back. He has seemed very laid back, I guess because he has nothing to prove.

But I remember him being interviewed by DC at Singapore last year and he was the last driver at the circuit still working with the team. Paul Hembery said there were only two drivers who visited the Pirelli factory pre-season 2011, Schumacher and Vettel. That's not someone just there for shits and giggles.